The transmission and distribution of content over networks has evolved over the years. Users expect a service provider to be able to deliver content in various formats and at various times. Interactive television (iTV) is an example of the evolution of content provisioning services. No longer are users restricted to a passive viewing experience. For example, a game show may provide the television viewing audience an opportunity to buzz in or select a correct answer along with a contestant actually on the set.
Conventional techniques for binding an application (e.g., an iTV application) to video entail adding data or program identifiers (PIDs) to a (n MPEG-2) transport stream or placing the data in a vertical ancillary data space (VANC) or potentially even a vertical blanking interval (VBI) (if the application is small enough). In order to add the data associated with the application to an asset, it may be placed on a carousel. In order to load the application faster at a user equipment device (UED), the application may be “spun” faster, or that is to say, a greater proportion of the data included in the carousel is allocated to application data relative to the underlying content.
Conventional techniques for associating and loading applications have a number of disadvantages. For example, given a particular system configuration and associated bandwidth, “spinning” the carousel faster with respect to the application data may degrade the quality of the underlying content. Moreover, conventional techniques fail to account for the value of the application as a function of time. Service providers are continuing to seek out improved techniques for delivering and loading applications on UEDs.